EU Court Blocks Airline Data-Sharing Agreement

Posted on May 30, 2006

Post 9/11, the U.S. penned a deal demanding that airlines submit 34 pieces of passenger information including names, addresses and credit card info. The EU Parliament has opposed the deal from the beginning, arguing that it does not guarantee adequate data protection, and now the European Court of Justice has annulled it. Washington has threatened big fines for noncompliance in the past. Privacy? Data protection? How un-American!

BBC:
The court said the decision to hand over the data was not founded on an “appropriate legal basis”.

European airlines have given US authorities passengers’ names, addresses and credit card details.

The US said the data would help fight terrorism, but the European Parliament said the data could be misused.

The agreement demands that within 15 minutes of take-off for the United States, a European airline must send the US authorities 34 items of personal information about the passengers on board.